Portable electric search-light.



R. LLSMITH.

PORTABLE ELECTRIC SEARCH LIGHT.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 18. 1914.

1,170,012 Patented Feb. 1, 1916.

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Ronem) L. SMITH. oF- vERET-r; MASSACHUSETTS.

PO RTABLE ELECTRIC SEARCH-LIGHT.

To all whom it'maj concern I tafched from its supporting member and usedas a ha-nd lamp either for s gnal ngor for investigating surrounding conditions or .Be it known that I, ROLAND L, SMITH,

a citizen of the United States, andresident of" Everett, county of Middlesex, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improve ment in. Portable Electric Search-Lights, of which the following description, in connection, .with the accompanying drawing, is a specification, like characters on the drawing 10 representing'li'ke parts. j This lnventlon relates. to improvements 1n portable electric .searchlights adapted for avariety'of uses, such astfor; automobiles,j motor boats, fire departments, signaling 15.

lights, etc, r

The general object of-the inv'entlon is to provide alight and powerful search light apparatus which can easily be-carried by hand and in which the-light maybe pointed' in any direction so that it may be used upon .an automobile or amotorboat and may be easilytilted downwardly or laterally when v passin another automcbile or boat. so as to avoid ashing the light into the eyes of the;

pilct'of the-other'machine; which may be used to light a room by' directing" the same toward the ceiling sothat the light will be reflected and diffused in such adnanner as to enable a personto-read or to Workinany portion of the room.

-' In order to accomplish the above purposes one of the-specific objects of the invention resides'in Providing a ppo g eans for the signal lamp, preferably an electric lamp, which will permit it to be turned in any direction and. which will retain. the same in the position to which it is adjusted notwithstanding jolts or'jars which may be given .tothe supporting object.

Another object of the invention is to provide means lwhereby' the l-ight-inay be dewhich whenused upon an automobile or boat may be carried about and .used as a .hand lamp to aid lll lepillllng the machine, or

for firemen in exploring a smokefilledroom. Another object ofthe invention ,is to provide a search light of the character described having a'single .shell reflector with a rigid handle having connections therefrom to the reflector ofthe search light which will not be easily broken by rough usage.

Fig. '4.

\ ing pivotal jaws having-free ends adapted to p e'ifimfi ofLettersPetentil Patented FebL1,1916. Application fi1edSep-tember 18,l914. Serial No. 862,406; i

engage a supporting edge such as the frame of the wind shield of an automobile.

Other objects of the invention willm'ore fully appear from the following descript1on and accompanying drawings and will vbepointed out in the annexed claims;

i I In the drawings: Figure 1 is an elevation of one of the preferred forms of search light apparatus embodyingmyiinvention, Fig. 2 isI-a vertical. sectional view of one of the preferred forms of adjustable supportfor the search light, F ig. .3 is a vertical axial;

ectional View of the search light and the stem or handle by which it maybe man'ipulated, Fig. 4 is a detail view of a modified form of support showing clamping -mein-- bers adapting-the support to be attached-to the wind shield-of an automobile orsimilar device and, Fig; 5 is a median transverse sectional view of'the clamp illustrated in "The-portable apparatus disclosed in the accompanying drawings comprisesa suit-.

able reservoir or source of energy flexibly connected with the incandescent member of' "the, search light. In the preferred embodiment disclosed hereinfthejsource of energy preferably comprises -a. storage battery 1,

the terminals 2 and "3 of which are con-- nectedby suitable conductors 4 and 5 to the incandescent filament offanelectric lamp located axially of. a suitable reflector 6- w*hich preferably is paraboloidal in form, the inc'andescent member being locatedat the fo-' cus of the, parabola. Conduits V-desirably may'pass through a cylindrical stem 7.eX-'

tending rearwardly from said reflector and said stem. may be-desirably provided with a handle 8 of wood, vulcanite or other suitable material,

,Gonside rable diflicultyhas heretofore been experienced in providing suitable means for 4 attaching together the stemand the reflector of the. character disclosed herein for the reason that the reflector'is relatively'thin and the joint between-the reflector and the stem when brazed, soldered or otherwisese cured islikely to become easily broken when the device is beinghandled. .In orderto jobviate this difliculty'thereflecto'r 5 is desirably constructed of spun brass 'andis.

silveredon the inner surface in the usual manner'and is supported as followsz A-cirreceive'the edge-of; said wall, the inner end" cularaperture is formed'in the reflectorpreferably at the rear thereof and'the walls of said aperture are secured to a relatively thick collar 9 having-a recess 1Ov formed to of said collar being provided with a surface curved to form an extension ofthe parabo loidal surface of the. reflector,

The collar 9 is desirably surrounded by a sleeve 11 having flanges 12' inclosing the I outer end of the collar 9 and the flange 13 desirably may be brazed or soldered to fo-rm' a substantially integral structure. The intebeing concave'd to fit the outer surface of' the reflector. The reflector 6, the collar 9, and the sleeve 11 withits flanges 12 and 13 rior of thecollar 9 is preferably provided With screw threads 14 adapted to engage] corresponding screw threads 15 carried by a sleeve 16 which is brazed,'sweated or pinned upon the end of the cvlindrical'stem 7. The

stem. 7 is provided with astud lTadapted to engage a bayonet joint 18 in theside of the socket of an electric bulb 19. By reason of the .above construction a very strong joint is made between the reflector 6 and the stem 7,. and the stem 7 is adjustable relatively to,

the reflector by reason of the screw threaded-connection between its sleeve'16 and the v collar 9 of'the reflector so that the i'nc'a'ndesin respect to the focus of the ,paraboloidalup tightly against the flange 12' j the respective terminals.

24 to similar termihals28, 29 adjacentto :the opposite ends of the stem or handle and cent filament may be positioned or focused reflector. When thus positioned it -may be securedpermanently by. means offa check nut20 upon the sleeve 16 which may be set Suitable connections for the electric current may be provided near the stem 'or ha:n-\

die member aforesaid. As illustrated here,-

. r in' spring. pressed terminals 21, 22, engage.

the terminals of the incandescent filament and areslidably mounted within suitable members 23, 24 whichareinclosed-"within, the non conducting-plug'25 permanently a suitable-switch 30 may be provided in the end of the handle by which the ends of the electric circuit maybe connected minals 28 and 29"aforesaid.

-. By the-use of an electric storage battery to the tersuch as illustrated herein, andwhich desir-, ably may comprise three cells, a s'ufliciently powerful current'may be obtained .to produce a'very powerful light withinthe reflector, and in actual experiments it is found that the rays of a light, of th'ischaracter maybe thrown a distance of about 2000 feet; the

rays being sufficiently strong also to penetrate the smoke of a burning building or to vbe used as-a signaling device.

. Inorderto provide a compact portable apparatus the reflector may be mounted upon the-top of-the battery as illustrated in Fig, I, and it is desirable'that the search light maybe so mounted upon its battery or other support that it will be capable of be ing pointed inany direction sothat the ap-' paratus may be merely set into a convenient bracket or holder'and be adapted for use inst'antly.

In one of the. preferred forms of ap'paratus which is illustrated in Fig. 1 a stand, 31 is secured 'bysuitable-bolts or screws ,32'

to the top of the storage battery casing. The

stand 31 may if desired be provided with: a

semi-cylindrical recess 33- adapting said stand to form one half of a clamp which may be secured to a cylindrical rod or'other.

support such for example as abracket upon I an automobile wind" shieldi frame; to; the.

handle bar of a motorcycle or a suitable bracket upon a motor boat, etc.-

The stand- 31. is desirably provided with an upstanding .ear 34. upon which a member 35 preferably bifurcated at its lower end otal member 38 such"- as a screw. -having a handle or milled nut 39 bymeans of which to form legs 3.6, 37 may be secured by a p iv the legs 36, 37 may be clamped firmly upon the ear 34. The upper end of the-member 35 is desirablyslotted and provided withan axial aperture adapted to receive: the stem 42 ,of a suitable-clamp 43'. Thesides 40, 41 oflthe slotted portion may be pro-' vided with-ears 44,45 which may be connected by .a screw 46 so that the sides 40,41

, may be clamped upon the rod 42 with any desired'pres'sure. j I In order to provide an easily detachable means for holding the search light the damping member 43 is desirably made of two semi-cylindrical parts, one of which 'is secured to the same by a pivot 48, the free end of the member 47 being secured-t0 the member 43 by means of'a'milled screw- 48 5 11 which can be readily unscrewed .to permit the removal of the stem 7 of the search light.v 4

By the construction above described it will be obvious that any desired vertical adjustment of the Searchlight may be ob-' ta ined'by moving the member 3'5'a'bo11t itspivot 38 an'd'thatany-lateral adjustment upon its swivel 42 so thatthe search light is universally adjustable in respect 'to its "supporting; stand.

- By reason of the fact that there is a great 'demandfor the use of lights of this character in connection with automobiles I have devised an improved clamp by means of may be'made by rotating the search light which the adjustable support for the search light .may' be readily secured to asupportingmember such as the cylindrical bar of the wind shield of an automobile. This dev'ice is illustrated in Fig. 4 in. which the member 35 instead of beinghinged to a bracket of the form illustrated 'in Fig. 1 is p'ro ided with a pair of jaws 50, 51 having angular faces, said jaws lbeing pivoted upon the screw 38aforesaid, the jaws 50 and 51 are adapted to- Be clamped upon the wind shield 52'or other object'by bolts 53 passing through said jaws intermediate ofthe ends thereof and the pivot 38 of the jaws. By reason of this connection the Searchlight support may-be easily attached," either to theI-w-ind shield or any... other convenient form of supporting bar, the spaces between the ends of the jaws being adaptedto permit, its attachment to the,wind shield withv out interfering with the glass thereof.

It will .be obvious that-when the search light support above described is secured to the wind shield'the'hinged member 35 will extend a sufficient distance beyond the edge of thewind shield to permit a free adjust-' ment of" the searchlight in any direction. .VVhen this form of support for the searchlight is used the storage battery may be located conveniently upon" the running board or'other' accessible part ofthe machine, or attached to the regular generating -s vstem of the machine, boat or motorcycle. When itis desired to use the lamp apart from its support it may be easily removed by merelyunscrewing'the screw 48 and throwing the clamp upwardly. The Searchlight can then be transported to any place within the radius of the conductors 4:. 5,.leading from th'eba-ttery to the light so that it may be used by hand in any desired manneras for example to examine the mechanism' of the tery being carried by the firemen in any I suitable sling. Ordinarily the searchli ght' would be used when left in the bracket and either carried as .a lantern with'the rays directin in any direction or left on the floor of buildings or the ground with the'search light-so turned that the ravs strike the ceiling of the room thereby lighting the entire room byfreflection from sa d ceiling, but when occasion demands the-handle maybe detached fromits clamping member 4.3 and manipulated as a hand'lamp.

Having thus described my invention What -ters Patent is: v r

lpA manually-portable search light or signal light comprising. an electric lamp, a "reflector having a rearwardlyextending -I'-claim as new and desire to secure by astem, .a handle on said reflector,a storage battery, a flexible conductor connecting said batteryto said-light, a supporting stand mounted upon said. storage battery and means for detachably connecting said reflector to' said stern.

2. The combination with a search-light comprisinga reflector having a rearwardly' extending stem, a handle thereon, a storage battery, 'a flexible conductor connecting said battery to said light through said handle, a supporting stand mounted uponsaid stor I age battery and means for detachablyconnecting said reflector to said stem.

. 3. In combinationwith a search-light comprising a reflector having a rearwardly extending. stem, a handle thereon, of a sup porting stand, a memberhinged upon said stand, .a. clamp having, a. stem rotatably mounted in said member, said clamp being adapted-to engage said stem and means for detachably connecting the members of said clamp.

4. The combination withja search-light comprising a reflector. having a rearwardly extending stem having a handle thereon, of a supporting stand, amember hinged thereon, means rotatably mounted in said hinged member adapted detachably to engage said stem", means for causing frictional engagement between said hinged member and said i stand and means for causing frictional en gagement between the hinged member-and the rotatable member .to prevent free movement of said members whereby thesearchlight may be rigidly positioned to cast its rays iii any direction. I

5. In combinat1on with a search-light comprising a reflector'having a rearwardly extending stem, a handle on said stem, a

clamp detachably connected to-"said stem comprising hinged members adapted to embrace said stem and means for detachably securing the members of said, clamp to gether whereby the search light may be detached from such clamp, a supporting stand, universal; connections between saidstand and said clamp,- means for causing relative engagement of the members of said universal connection to maintain the search light in any desired position. i

6. Asearch light comprising a source ofv lic'ht and a reflector havinga rearwardly disposed stem, afianged reinforcing collar surrounding saidjstem and attached to said reflector, a sleeve inclosing said collar and secured thereto and to-said reflector and means for manipulating said light secured to said stem.

forcing collar secured t'osaicl reflector and adjustably mounted upon said stem, a-sleevg inclosingsaid reiriforcing collar and secured thereto and to said reflector and a check'nut m'ountedupbn said' stem and adapted to secure the same in adjusted position.

"In festimonj whreof; I have signa'myname tothis'specification, in the presence of'two subscribing witnesses.) v

' ROLAND L. SMITH.

i;Witnesses:

, FREDERICK A. TENNANT, Y THOMAS J. DIiUMMOND 

